Austria

National Dementia Strategies

On 14 December 2015, Austria officially launched its first national dementia strategy during a ceremony attended by Health Minister Sabine Oberhauser and Minister for Social Affairs Rudolf Hundstorfer. The new strategy is based on the "Austrian Dementia Report 2014", which was jointly released by the two ministries in January 2015 and can be downloaded below. The strategy has the following general objectives:

Enhance the participation and autonomy of people with dementia

Disseminate information about the available help and services for carers

Provide high quality care to people with dementia, irrespective of their place of residence

Ensure better education and training for professional carers

Encourage better understanding of dementia and defeat stigma

Alzheimer Austria was actively involved throughout the planning and development phases of the strategy. Antonia Croy and Monika Natlacen were members of several working groups to ensure that the needs of people with dementia and family carers are met. In particular, they sought the participation of people with dementia from the association’s "Supported Self Help Group" in policy decisions about their care.